That doesn’t necessarily mean a return to the ways we did these things in the past, but it means learning how to do them so that we can thrive in the twenty-first century.

The second is time-induced changes in the mix of products and activities. Households with more time wealth can engage in slower, less resource-intensive activities. They can hang their clothing on the line, rather than using an electric dryer. More important, they can switch to less energy-intensive but more time-consuming modes of transport (mass

goods fell. Pensions got unreliable, while low prices for manufactures became a fixture.

The third principle of plenitude is “true materialism,” an environmentally aware approach to consumption.

From the perspective of the individual, there are four principles of plenitude. The first is a new allocation of time. For decades, Americans have devoted an increasing fraction of their time and money to the market—working longer hours, filling leisure time with activities that require more income per unit of time, and buying, rather than making,

True wealth can be attained by mobilizing and transforming the economies of time, creativity, community, and consumption.

Creating a sustainable economy will take decades, and this is a strategy for prospering during that shift.

Once individuals know that they will be taken care of if they get ill, that their children can be well educated at reasonable cost, and that they will have a pension at the end of their working lives, they are free to pursue a lower-impact and more satisfying style of life.

people adapt to higher incomes by raising their expectations.